Equipment for drying bales for forage of any shape whatsoever

ABSTRACT

The invention produces equipment for drying bales of forage comprising: at least one unit for generating hot air ( 30 ) channeled onto at least one pair of treatment units (A, B) stack one over the other, each having a rectangular bottom chamber ( 2, 5 ) and top chamber ( 4, 6 ), kept apart by spacing devices ( 40, 41; 60, 61; 103, 104 ) supporting the top chamber above the bottom chamber, and where one or more telescopic columns (A 1 , A 2 , A 3 ; B 1 , B 2 , B 3 ) set between the bottom chamber and the top chamber transfer the hot air from the bottom chamber to the top one. The bales are set in each treatment unit between the bottom chamber ( 2, 5 ) and the top chamber ( 4, 6 ) stacked in two layers so that they can be dried by the countercurrent flow of hot air. One or more of the telescopic columns (A 3 ; A 1 , A 2 ) is provided with shutoff dampers ( 20; 101, 102 ) suited to opening/closing the air flow from the bottom treatment unit (A) to the top treatment unit (B).

The invention concerns equipment for drying bales of forage regardlessof their shape, which is usually round or square.

It is known that there is a need to dry forage after it has beenharvested and arranged in bales of various shapes and sizes, such as forinstance round or square, and this to take the forage to a controlledhumidity content, for instance of around 15-18%, in order to avoid mouldformation or fermentation starting that can lead to hindering the use ofstored forage or nevertheless can lead to alimentary problems for theanimals or even cause fires by spontaneous combustion of forage storedin barns.

The need to rationalize treatment plants and to avoid enormousstructures, has given rise to the production of forage drying plantsthat can simultaneously treat at least two layers of bales blown bycountercurrent airflows.

According to Italian patent IT 1259172 an existing dryer for round balesis described, which has a bottom chamber with several perforatedcompartments where the round bales are placed and a top chamber keptapart by a hollow, telescopic column and substantially the same as thebottom chamber. The two layers of bales are stacked one over the otherand countercurrent airflows fed from the bottom chamber and the topchamber are used to dry the bales being treated.

One of the inconveniences that can be noted with this type of solutionis that when the bales have anything other than a round shape, the plantdescribed above does not satisfy the prerequisite of effectively dryingsince it has round air outlet holes, the corners for instance of asquare bale, do not receive a correct drying action.

On the other hand there is a need to achieve optimum rationalization ofdrying plants in order to make them versatile and also functional foroperators who use different kinds of forage harvesting machinery or inother words such machinery that produces round bales or square bales,for example by the use of presses with square sections.

In an attempt to overcome said inconvenience a dryer for bales of hayhas been produced under international patent WO97/40330, which isprovided with special adapters that, by changing the outlet air holesections from circular to polygonal, optimize use of the dryer also forsquare shaped bales or, more generally, bales having other shapes thancylindrical.

The dryer produced according to the descriptions in the aforesaidinternational patent also have the advantage of developing in heightthereby creating two floors of treatment, one stacked over the other,which reduces the overall dimensions of the plant against otherequivalent plants.

However even the plant under said patent has a limitation, consisting inthe impossibility to use only one of its treatment units.

This invention intends to overcome even this acknowledged limitationfound in the aforesaid treatments plants with several units stacked overone another.

In particular a first scope of the invention is to produce a dryer madeup of two treatment units stacked one over the other where the bottomtreatment unit can even function independently to its overlying toptreatment unit.

Another scope is to produce equipment for drying bales of forage that isuniversal, in other words that can basically achieve optimum drying ofboth round bales and square bales.

Moreover the intention is to make the changeover from treating roundbales to treating square bales, or vice-versa, using the minimum amountof time and without requiring specialist personnel for changing theequipment.

Another intended scope is that the equipment under this invention canmoreover even treat round and square bales at the same time.

Last but not least, a scope is to be able to provide equipment that doesnot require roofing or other constructions for protecting it fromweathering.

All these scopes and others that will be better explained below areachieved by equipment for drying bales of forage comprising:

at least one unit for generating hot air equipped with a fan group thatchannels hot air onto

at least one pair of treatment units stacked one over the other, eachhaving a bottom chamber and a top chamber basically rectangular inshape, kept apart by spacing devices supporting the top chamber abovethe bottom, and where one or more telescopic columns set between thebottom chamber and the top chamber transfer the hot air from the bottomchamber to the top one, said telescopic columns being operated by saidspacer devices,

said bales being set in each treatment unit between the bottom chamberand the top chamber stacked in two layers, so that they can be dried bythe countercurrent flow of hot air,

wherein one or more of said telescopic columns is provided with shutoffdampers suited to opening/closing the air flow from the bottom treatmentunit to the top treatment unit.

Under the invention each of the two, bottom and top chambers shouldpreferably be box shaped having a surface where one or more basicallyflat metal panels are removably connected and having holes shapedaccording to the type of bale undergoing the drying treatment.

An advantage of this invention is that the metal panels may have aseries of circular holes to host the round bales when the equipment isbeing used to put round bales through the drying treatment. Otherwisethe metal panels can be replaced, both on the top chamber and the bottomone, so that they have basically rectangular holes suited to supportingand hosting square shaped bales according to the sizes currently in use.

Additional characteristics and details of the invention will be betterexplained in the description of a preferred form of execution given as aguideline but not a limitation and illustrated with the aid of theattached diagrams, where:

FIG. 1 shows an isometric view of the drying equipment under thisinvention provided with two treatment units;

FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal section of the equipment in FIG. 1 whichalso indicates the hot air generator;

FIG. 3 shows a cross-section along line III—III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows another cross-section along line IV—IV in FIG. 2;

FIGS. 5 and 6 show two different types of metal panels suited to beingset on surfaces of the top chamber and the bottom chamber for treatinground bales;

FIGS. 7 and 8 show metal panels suited to host different sized squarebales

FIG. 9 shows a longitudinal section of a variant in execution of theequipment invention;

FIG. 10 shows an overhead view of the equipment in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 shows the side view of a detail of the variant in execution ofthe equipment invention illustrated in FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 shows an overhead view of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 shows the side view of FIG. 11.

With reference to the above figures and in particular FIG. 1 it can beseen that the equipment under this invention, generally indicated by 1,has two treatment units, indicated by A and B, one above the other andmobile as will be described below.

The treatment unit A has a bottom rectangular chamber 2 made by basemetal panels 21, side metal panels 22 and 23 and end metal panels 24. Atthe opposite end of metal panel 24 the bottom chamber 2 is closed by themouth of the air duct which is indicated by 3 in FIG. 2 and is connectedat 25 over the whole face opposite end 24.

There are also sections 26 and 27 set upright that, as will be seen,hold the metal panels that will be used to support the bales of foragebeing treated.

Overhead, indicated by 4, there is the top chamber that basically has anidentical construction to the bottom chamber 2, with the exception ofbeing closed on all sides of the box. The hot air, heated by the heatexchanger 30 and delivered by the fan 31 coupled to the dehumidifier 32,through the duct 3, which blows throughout the whole bottom chamber,reaches the top chamber 4 through the lateral telescopic columns A1 andA2, as seen in FIG. 1 and in FIG. 3 where the airflows are also markedwith arrows in solid lines.

An additional central telescopic column A3 transfers the hot airflow tothe second treatment unit B. To be more precise, as can moreover be seenin FIG. 3, the hot air that rises through the telescopic column A3, andwhose route is marked by the dotted arrows, reaches the bottom chamber 5of treatment unit B covering the whole bottom chamber and by passingthrough side columns B1 and B2 reaching the top chamber 6. In this wayeven this chamber is affected by an airflow that is expelled through theformed metal panels that are mounted on their respective surfaces of thetop and bottom chambers.

The treatment unit B also has an additional central telescopic column B3which, as required, can be opened by a damper 50 that can add a givenairflow to the air delivered by columns B1 and B2 that reaches the topchamber of the treatment unit B. The telescopic column A3 is alsoprovided with a damper 20 that opens or closes the flow of air into thesecond top treatment unit B. It is clear that if the top unit B is notbeing used, it's supply of hot air is not necessary, which would anyhowbe wasted and therefore the damper 20 shuts off the delivery of air tothe top treatment unit B.

In practice when the damper 20 is open both treatment units A and Boperate and the air flow in top treatment unit B can be controlled bymodulating the damper 50.

Vice-versa if only the bottom treatment unit A is being used, it issufficient to close the damper 20 thereby shutting off the air flowrising through the telescopic column A3.

The height adjustment between the bottom chamber 2 and the top chamber 4is obtained, as can be seen in FIG. 4, by spacer devices that, in thisspecific example, are the hydraulic jacks 40 and 41 mounted insidecolumns A2 and A1 respectively. In order to prevent problems of flexing,each of the hydraulic jacks is enclosed by telescopic tubes 43 set at120° and 44 illustrated in FIG. 4 and set at 120° to each other, therebypreventing the respective jacks from flexing. It is clear that by meansof the hydraulic cylinders 40 and 41, the top chamber 4 can be set atthe correct height so that, as can be seen in FIG. 2, the bales offorage 7 are in direct contact with the support surfaces belonging tothe top and bottom chambers. In a similar way, with regards thetreatment unit B, there are also jacks 60 and 61 in columns B2 and B1respectively. The hydraulic jacks 60 and 61 have the same function ofspacing the top chamber 6 from the bottom chamber 5 so that the twolayers of bales undergoing treatment are kept in close contact with theair venting surfaces.

In accordance with the invention each top chamber and each bottomchamber of the treatment units is fitted with metal panels provided withsuitable apertures that, as the case requires, can be any of the typesillustrated in FIGS. 5 to 8.

In the event that round type bales of forage have to be treated, thesurface enclosed by the side walls 22 and 23 of the bottom chamber, aswell as sections 26 and 27, will receive the metal panels shown in FIG.5, or those shown in FIG. 6. More precisely, if the diameter of theround bales is between 1500 and 1800 mm., this example of the inventionprescribes that panel 10 in FIG. 5 can host 4 bales to the left and 4bales to the right of the columns A1, A2 and A3 standing on two metalpanels of the kind shown in FIG. 5.

If instead the bales have, for example, a diameter of 1200 mm., thebottom chamber has to be fitted with the two metal panels illustrated inFIG. 6 indicated by 11, which have 6 circular holes. It can be notedthat each circular hole in the metal panels shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 hasan inside rim 81 and outside rim 82 basically perpendicular to the floorof the actual ring. The purpose of these rims is to channel the airflowthereby preventing hot air from following any direction other than theone required for drying the bale of hay. Naturally the metal panelsillustrated in FIG. 5 and indicated by 10 and 11 and that are set on thebottom chamber, will likewise be mounted in the same way on the topchamber so that the double layer of bales undergoing treatment, as seenin FIG. 2, has streams of air from top and bottom with countercurrentflows. Naturally the above is valid for the second treatment unit B,over unit A, that will also be fitted with one or more metal panels 10to 13, indicated in FIGS. 5 to 8.

It can be seen that FIG. 2 illustrates the treatment both in unit A andin B, of square bales of forage indicated by 7. For these types of balesthe metal panels mounted on the bottom chamber and fixed to the topchamber will be the same as those illustrated in FIG. 7 and indicated by12 or in FIG. 8 indicated by 13. As can be seen in FIG. 7, the supportpanel 12 has spaces to hold bales of the same width and the same length.In this example the bales are 800 mm. wide, 2400 mm. long and 800 mm.high. If instead the bales are the kind having a base of 1200 mm. and inthe same way a length of 2400 with a height of 600 mm., panel 13 hasonly three places to hold a layer of 3 bales for each side of thetreatment unit, where side is intended as the left part or the rightpart of the columns that basically divide the treatment unit into twosections.

Even in the case of the support metal panels 12 and 13 shown in FIGS. 7and 8, these are provided with rims to contain and channel the stream ofhot air in order to avoid any possible dispersion, as shown in thedetail 131 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 use solid arrows to show the route of airflow for thetreatment unit A and dotted arrows instead show the route of airflowthat serves the top treatment unit B.

In FIG. 3 it can be seen how in treatment unit A, the top chamber issupplied by the columns A1 and A2 while the initial section of treatmentunit B is supplied by column A3 that transfers air to the bottom base 5of treatment unit B and then from this base 5, through the columns B1and B2, and also eventually with the aid of the telescopic column B3,hot air is transferred to the top chamber 6.

A variant in execution of the drying equipment invention is illustratedin FIGS. 9 to 13 where it is generally indicated by 100.

It can be seen that this variant differs from the previous form ofexecution because the air channeling telescopic columns are set at theends of the treatment units A and B, as can be seen in FIG. 9.

At each end the ducting columns comprise, with reference to FIG. 11:

a central column A3 belonging to the bottom treatment unit A thatconnects the bottom chamber 2 and the top chamber 4 of the bottomtreatment unit A;

a pair of lateral columns A1, A2 are set at the sides of the telescopiccolumn A3, which channel hot air from the bottom chamber 2 of the bottomtreatment unit A to the bottom chamber 5 of the top treatment unit B;

a central telescopic column B3 belonging to the top treatment unit Bthat connects the bottom chamber 5 with the top chamber 6 of the toptreatment unit B.

The existence of shutoff dampers 101, 102 in the lateral telescopiccolumns A1 and A2 respectively, allows to operate both the treatmentunits A and B at the same time or only the bottom treatment unit A.

To raise and lower the chambers there are spacer devices consisting ofjacks 103, 104 set vertically and coaxially inside the centraltelescopic columns, B3 e A3 respectively.

It is clear that this variant in execution produces equipment that ismore mechanically and structurally stable since the jacks 103, 104 areset at the ends of the chambers.

What's more less rising/lowering jacks are implemented against theprevious execution.

This variant in execution gives the equipment a modular design becauseseveral treatment units can easily be placed side by side with their topand bottom chambers communicating.

Therefore, in view of the above explanations it is clear that theequipment under this invention, in each of its forms of executions, ismade of two treatment units stacked over one another which, at theuser's discretion, can be made to operate together or the bottom unitalone.

What's more both of the above types of equipment can dry bales of anyshape and any size, and do so by merely requiring the replacement of thesupport metal panels of the top and bottom chambers that are set againstthe bales being dried thereby obtaining maximum performance from theplant since dispersion of air is practically nil.

Both executions are also suited to dehydration treatments that involvereducing the humidity content to below 15%, for this purpose it beingenough to prolong the time the forage undergoes the treatment.

What is claimed is:
 1. Equipment for drying bales of forage comprising:at least one unit for generating hot air equipped with a fan group thatchannels hot air onto at least one pair of treatment units stacked oneover the other, each having a rectangular bottom chamber and a topchamber, kept apart by spacing devices having a rectangular bottomchamber and a top chamber, kept apart by spacing devices supporting thetop chamber above the bottom chamber, and where one or more telescopiccolumns set between the bottom chamber and the top chamber transfer thehot air from the bottom chamber to the top chamber, said telescopiccolumns being operated by said spacing devices, said bales being set ineach treatment unit between the bottom chamber and the top chamberstacked in two layers so that said bales can be dried by thecountercurrent flow of hot air, wherein one or more of said telescopiccolumns is provided with shutoff dampers suited to opening/closing theair flow from the bottom treatment unit to the top treatment unit,wherein each of the two bottom chambers and top chambers is box shapedhaving a surface where one or more basically flat metal panels areremovably connected and having holes shaped according to the shape ofbale undergoing the drying treatment, and wherein said shutoff dampersselectively permit isolation of at least one of said treatment Units byopening/closing the air flow from one treatment unit to anothertreatment unit.
 2. Equipment according to claim 1, wherein said one ormore telescopic columns are set at an intermediary position between thebottom chambers and top chambers of each treatment unit that saidtelescopic columns connect.
 3. Equipment according to claim 1, whereinsaid one or more telescopic columns are set at the ends of the bottomchamber and top chamber of each treatment unit that said telescopiccolumns connect.
 4. Equipment according to claim 2, wherein there arethree of said telescopic columns for each treatment unit and comprise apair of lateral telescopic columns and one central column set betweeneach pair of lateral columns.
 5. Equipment according to claim 3, whereineach end of said equipment comprises four telescopic columns includingtwo lateral and one central belonging to the bottom treatment unit and asingle central telescopic column belonging to the top treatment unit. 6.Equipment according to claim 4, wherein each of said central columns ofsaid bottom treatment unit contains said shutoff damper.
 7. Equipmentaccording to claim 5, wherein each of said lateral columns of saidbottom treatment unit contains said shutoff damper.
 8. Equipmentaccording to claim 4, wherein said central column of said top treatmentunit has a control damper.
 9. Equipment according to claim 4, whereinthe lateral columns of each of said treatment units connect together thebottom chambers and the top chambers.
 10. Equipment according to claim4, wherein the central column of the top treatment unit connectstogether the bottom chamber and the top chamber.
 11. Equipment accordingto claim 4, wherein the central column of said top treatment unitcommunicates with the central column of said bottom treatment unit, saidcentral column of said bottom treatment unit being connected with thebottom chamber of the actual bottom treatment unit.
 12. Equipmentaccording to claim 5, wherein the central column of the bottom treatmentunit connects together the bottom chamber and the top chamber of theactual bottom treatment unit.
 13. Equipment according to claim 5,wherein the lateral columns of said bottom treatment unit connecttogether the bottom chamber of the bottom treatment unit with the bottomchamber of the top treatment unit.
 14. Equipment according to claim 5,wherein the central column of said top treatment unit connects togetherthe bottom chamber and the top chamber of the actual top treatment unit.15. Equipment according to claim 1, wherein said metal panel has severalcircular holes for hosting round bales.
 16. Equipment according to claim15, wherein there are four holes in each metal panel for treating eightround bales in two layers.
 17. Equipment according to claim whereinthere are six holes in each metal panel for treating twelve round balesin two layers.
 18. Equipment according to claim 15, wherein saidcircular holes are enclosed by a ring having an inside diameterbasically equal to the diameter of the hole and provided with rimsbasically perpendicular to the floor of said ring suited to channelingthe air through the hole towards the bale undergoing treatment. 19.Equipment according to claim 1, wherein said one or more metal panelshave a series of rectangular apertures suited to hosting square-shapedbales on each chamber.
 20. Equipment according to claim 1 wherein thevariable spacer devices in the top chamber from the bottom chamber arehydraulic jacks operated by a hydraulic unit.
 21. Equipment according toclaim 20, wherein the hydraulic jacks are set inside the telescopic airchanneling columns.